The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
10/09 Hour 1 - Can Texans Survive Nico Collins Going To IR?
A killer beast! ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 proudly present. The killer beast. It's definitely a fan of the killer beast. Don't sweat the technique. Now from a Veritex community bank studios, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston sports radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. Ooh, what a big sound. Hey! How are we doing? He's blank. I am Branham. It is Brian behind the glass. And it is a Wednesday edition of the killer beast on ESPN 97 5, ESPN 92 5. Busy show. Busy, Busy show. We'll be stressing at 4.30. We'll talk some NFL stuff. There's a new project, Rudy, in college football. That has caught my eye. It is interesting, but the A story. The lead story in the city of Houston today. Nico Collins has been placed on the IR with a hamstring injury and, of course, he sustained. At least he re-aggravated. It might have sustained it. We don't know. But the touchdown play that he had, the deep touchdown, pulled his hamstring there, didn't play the rest of the game. We were wondering how long he's going to be out. Well, he will miss at minimum four games. He was placed on the IR earlier this morning. Yeah, this sucks because of the fact that he has been the big-time target for CJ. And especially when CJ is forced out of the pocket and gets off script. He seems to find Nico all the time. Now, this is why you're thankful that you have the depth in the wide receiver room that you have and getting digs in the off season is really going to kind of show its wares because you're going to rely on him and hopefully a whole lot more tank than we've seen. Yeah. The worry that I have with Nico really isn't extreme. Look, he's going to be out of minimum four games. DeMico was kind of standoffish whenever he was asked about, you know, could it be longer than that? Because he was like, yeah, we're going to miss a minimum four games. And he was later asked by Christie from the AP. And do you think he might miss more? And of course, you know how DeMico answers injury questions. We're not going to talk about that. We're going to see where we are, whether it's the end of the week, if somebody's on the IR, where we're at whenever his IR designation is up. So I don't know. I don't know how severe the hamstring is. We saw Justin Jefferson last year miss seven games because of a hamstring. Damian Pierce, the injury, he's coming off of a hamstring. We never saw where he sustained that. He's going to end up missing week two, week three, week four, week five, four weeks. So that would be kind of good for Nico Collins. We do know that Nico ended up on the injury report ahead of the Jacksonville game with a hamstring injury, but we don't know if it was a re-aggravation of the same hamstring or if it was the other hamstring because the Texans have been coy about which hamstring was injured. And then when DeMico was asked about it earlier this week, he said he wasn't going to get into what hamstring it was. I don't know if that really matters. Like a re-aggravation versus a new hamstring pull. I don't know if that's significant. Maybe it is. Maybe it shows that one hamstring is bad. But if it's a hamstring injury that's bad enough to land you on the IR, I don't know if it matters that it's a re-aggravation. Yeah. No, I think that I went back and watched the long pass again. And it looked like after he scored the touchdown, it looked like he kind of was letting his teammates know that he felt something. But he wasn't drastically limping. It wasn't like, and I was hoping at the time, well, maybe it was just he felt a twinge. It didn't fully go. It's not going to be as serious as it would have been had it full and gone. But now when you put him on the injured list, the first thing that comes to my mind with you referencing some of the guys and the injuries in the past is we're dealing with Christian Harris with that calf injury and we don't know when he's coming back. And so best case scenario, he goes on the IR and it's four weeks. But we don't know what the worst case scenario could be because he's so important that you start wondering about and because we have like this Kyle Tucker syndrome now about what he went through to that it did cross my mind. Got to hope it's not longer than that. Yeah, I think that I think the long term would be sevenish weeks. Maybe let's round up to two months and say eight weeks because Jefferson hamstring injury forced him to miss seven games last year. Damian Pierce coming back from four. I always I thought it was weird that Nico Collins was on the was on the injured list prior to the Jacksonville game with a hamstring and then it was like, okay, he's playing and it's no big deal and he survives the Jacksonville game. No big deal. And then that past week prior to the most recent game against Buffalo and then he plays in the game. It gets hurt. Like that was weird to me that he popped up with it with a hamstring injury. Miss no time. It was perfectly okay to play because usually hamster you're missing at least a game. Yeah, I mean, look what happened with AJ Brown. He had a midweek hamstring after or I think it was going into the week to the NFL season. He hasn't played since now. He's supposed to come back this week for the Eagles after their by but yeah, he he missed some belief four weeks of action when he throw in the by. So that was a midweek hamstring injury. You're right. I wonder if Niko just decided that he could he could soldier through it. I doubt we'll get an answer to that. But to have a midweek hamstring pop up and then not miss time was very weird. Yeah, I thought so too, especially the hamstring like other things whatever like a little minor ankle sprain whatever hamstring the soft tissue which we know all about soft tissue injuries in the city. Houston knows hamstrings better than any other city in the country. So we know all about the hamstrings. Now what is your concern level with Niko Collins being out? And again, to me, it's hard to define how long he's going to be out anywhere from four to eight weeks would be. We know it's a minimum four weeks. We know the bottom of the of the range is four weeks. How long? I think that the top end of the range is eight. Hopefully it's after four. But how worried are you with Niko Collins off for at least four weeks? Maybe more that he's not gonna be on this team for the next month. Yeah, it's a bit concerning to me because like I said, I mean, he's been such a massive part of the passing game early in the season and he's proven to be a, you know, a wide receiver one that has some of the best stats, if not the best stats and all the NFL. It's concerning because of the fact that I really think in order for them to kind of maximize where they can go. I think they have to have Niko Collins for the long haul. So four weeks, okay. And you look at the Jets being probably the toughest game on that schedule because you got Patriots, Packers, Jets and Colts. But I don't want it to go past that because now you're worried about not only the injury being, you know, when he's fully healthy from the injury, but then he's got to get back into playing shape. That's going to take some time. And then you just keep kicking the can down the road. So I do have a level of concern more than just the four week window for me. And because as a city, I think we have PTSD with all the injuries that have seemingly turned out to be far worse than what we're told. That's going to be a stress in the injury is losing Niko Collins going to lessen who you are as a football team. Of course, Niko Collins is arguably the best receiver in the NFL currently. Is it going to lessen with, you know, what you've done offensively and what you're going to do offensively going forward? Yeah, it is. But the one position I look at on the offensive side that I think can survive an injury is the wide receiver room. You have a tremendous amount of depth there. Stefan Diggs has had a really good career and I would be the first one to tell you back a baseball card. We don't care what you've done over the career. It's what you're doing going forward. I think Stefan Diggs so far through five games has been really good for the Houston Texans. So I'm comfortable with Stefan Diggs kind of being the big boy in that room. A tank Dell is a really good wide receiver. People always slump, but he's not having a good season. He's not the same. I don't know what would tell you that's the case. I think you're looking at the stats and not the film. Whatever you say that he still gets great separation. First half against Buffalo was fantastic. And then they kind of went away from him in the second half. We saw the type of year that tank Dell had last year as a rookie whenever he was one of the top two receivers on the team. So I'm comfortable there. Xavier Hutchinson came into the game against Buffalo played that X spot for the final three quarters. You know, he didn't have tons of catches, but he had a couple of catches. I thought played the position nicely. I thought he blocked pretty well. I think I'm comfortable with Xavier Hutchinson getting over 50% of the offensive snaps. I'm not going to say Robert Woods is good at football. He actually didn't practice today. But Robert Woods is a veteran that you can trust. John Metche. Yeah. I don't know how much you're going to have to factor in John Metche. But those three guys I'm still okay with. Like I'm okay with Steph Diggs tank Dell. Xavier Hutchinson is my top three with Robert Woods being that veteran presence. Throw in the fact that Dalton Schultz needs to step up now. Like Dalton Schultz, you got paid $12 million. You're no longer the fourth target on this team. You need to step up and be a top three target on this team. And also because you've built a four in one record so far this season, you have a cushion. You have a safety net. I mention this all the time with backup quarterbacks. That whenever a quarterback takes over for an injured starter, all you need from that backup quarterback is to go 500. Win half of your game. Survive. Keep your head above water until the starter comes back. That's all the Texans need to do here. If Nico Collins misses four games, and look, those next four games, I think they're most of them are winnable. At New England, at Green Bay, you're playing at the Jets, which I don't love that turf. And then you have the Colts as well at home. I think they can go three in one of those four games. But at worst case, go two and two. If you're two and two while Nico Collins is down, you're six and three when he comes back. If he misses six weeks and you go three and three, well, you're seven and four whenever he comes back. So just go 500 while he's gone. I still think the Texans have plenty of debt that receiver, plenty of offensive weapons to be fine, to be okay, to keep their head well above water until Nico Collins comes back. You're in a better spot than a lot of teams would be because of the depth. There's no question about it. I'm concerned that this thing, you don't want it to linger. I don't want it to go more than four weeks because, like I said, I do think in order for them to go as far as I think they can go. They got to have him. I'm really going to be curious because I really believe that between Robert Woods and Hutchinson, these are the two guys that are going to really, you know, step up to try and fill some of the roles, regardless of who fills what roles. I don't think that matters as much. You look at the Chiefs. The Chiefs didn't have the depth. They lost two wide receivers. They're going three tight end sets. They're trying to do some things different. You don't have to do that with this team because you do still have so much talent in that room. I'm totally with you. I think that will do more to tight insets for what it's worth. That's fine too. I'm just saying that you have enough talent on your offense that are more thans instead of less thans that you can insert into this lineup and still you're going to be okay. It's just that once you start getting past, you know, those four games, then I start to worry a little bit more because of the fact that I want him back sooner rather than later. He said he'd be back sooner rather than later. Well, we all want him sooner than later. I get it, but I'm just saying I don't want it to linger. Yeah, I'm I'm not you're not winning a Super Bowl in the middle part of the year. Yes, we don't want it to linger. Yes, we want him back sooner rather than later. But you're not winning the Super Bowl in week six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven in the year. Like the most important thing for the Houston Texans who like reach their ceiling is that Nico Collins comes back 100% and when he comes back, hopefully at 100% you get him the rest of the way. Like the worst thing that can happen is okay, we want him back sooner rather than later. Four weeks are up with the injury, the IR. Let's just call it. Let's bring him back up after four weeks, but he could have really used two more weeks to get back to 100%. He's 95% after four weeks. You could have waited two more weeks, got him back to 100%. You bring him back to early two weeks later. He has another re-aggravation and he's banged for the year. Like that to me is worst case scenario. Yeah, and I see that. It's just that, you know, I worry because of the fact that I look at the Christian Harris injury. I'd have thought that, you know, when we heard about it in camp, I'd have thought that that was done and by the regular season, he'd be ready and they thought he would be. Then he comes back. He's not even able to make it through the start of practice. He's gone and now he was eligible to return. He hasn't returned yet and they don't have the depth that linebacker they have at wide receiver. So then I have a little bit, I bought him a line more on. I hope this isn't something more serious than what we know. And there's no reason to believe that right now. But yeah, I mean, to your point, the one thing I don't want to do is I don't want to bring it back too quick. There's no doubt. Yeah, I just like, to me worst case scenario day weeks. I'd say, well, obviously that doesn't sound great. No. That is a true worst case scenario. I'm more pessimistic about this than I think you guys are because when I look at the Houston Texans and you're absolutely right, Jeremy. On paper, you know, you have Tank Dale who had a great case season before he was called on to be an offensive guard. And Stefan Diggs playing well. That should be enough to survive, you know, hopefully cross your fingers four weeks while Nico Collins out is out. But I mean, it's not as dire as last year when Tank went out and you had Nico Collins and nothing else. So they're definitely in a better position for that. But when you look at how the season has gone so far, you have four wins all by one score, two point win over the Colts. You have obviously the walk-off field goal last week against the Bills. You have the late touchdown drive against the Jaguars the week before and then Caleb Williams. You only beat him by six when he wasn't playing well. I don't think the Texans are four. I know he's not a quarterback, but the Texans aren't four and one without Nico Collins. These games are too close to say the Texans are still before and one without Nico Collins. Thankfully, you are four and one. So you can withstand a little bit of a drop. But when you look at the schedule, I think they roll this way. The Patriots game, I'm not worried about it all. But at the Packers without Nico Collins, you only win in one score games. I'm kind of leaning. That's the last same thing with at the Jets. The Colts at home is a wild card, but you only beat them by two. The last time you play them with Nico Collins. I'm not really penciling that in as a win like I was before. So in a worst case scenario for the Texans are these four games. Let's say they go one and three and he comes back at that point going into the Lions and the Cowboys games. You're five and four facing the Lions and the Cowboys. And you still have that dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs game stretch coming up later this season. They would have kind of given away the cushion they had at that point. And you're coming back to a team that's winning these one score games. I'm a little bit worried that if they falter down this stretch without Nico, go one and three, hit the tougher part of their schedule that they could be in for a fight to the finish to get into the playoffs. You don't you don't think they're a playoff team? Like you think they're fighting for the playoffs in the age of five. If they go one and three, if they go one and three during this stretch where they should have been building up their lead, putting it basically completely out in the rear view. If Nico Collins is healthy, I think if they're going three and one, this stretch at that point, they're what? Seven and two, everything's completely in the rear view. But if they go one and three, now Nico's out because they're only winning these one score games. They barely beat the bills. They barely beat the Jaguars. They barely beat the Colts. They didn't. Which game are you winning? Which game are you winning in four? Patriots. You're winning the Patriots game. Five and four, four and four and five. In best case for Nico at that point, if he comes back after four weeks, which is not even a guarantee, but if he comes back after the four weeks, you're five and four going into Lions Cowboys. I think you're fear mongering. That's the fear I feel, German. I think you're fear mongering right now a little bit, Brian. One and three against the. Yeah. I think one and three without Nico Collins in this four game stretch would be a massive disappointment. I think you win at least two games at New England. I agree, Bay home for Indy at the Jets were a disaster. We're disagreeing on one game. It's a big swing. Like we are disagreeing on one game, but it's a big swing in terms of the standings, the race. No, I know that's why I'm afraid. Yeah. I just, I don't see the Texans only winning one of their next four. I think worst case scenario they split. I just think they beat the Colts. I think that they're going to beat the Patriots. They won by two with Nico. Okay. But, but you know what? They were, look, that's first game of the season. They're just, they were figuring things out. Same thing for the Colts. Okay. But now they're there. You don't know what their quarterback situation is like. Taylor's been out. You don't know what they're going to be, but you're up much more. I think you're getting better every week. You're progressing every week to the point where, and you're at home to where I would chalk that one up as a win. I would chalk the Patriots up for a win. If you can, I'm with you in the Patriots. If you can split between Green Bay and the Jets and just get one of those two, I think you're in a really good spot because as Jeremy said, I don't, I don't see, I really don't see a proposition right now where they lose the division. They're going to be a playoff team. Yeah, they're going to figure out a way. I didn't say they were too. No, about Nico Collins last year, by the way. Say that again. They were too. No without Nico Collins last year, by the way, and they didn't have Steph. They were a much less offense last year. Whenever they missed on paper, they're much more equipped to survive this, this year than they were last year when Tank went out. I just, this is a team that has not won and is comfortably as we thought they would this season for wins for one score games. Well, you know, walk off field goals late touchdown drives against the, against the Jaguars who win by two against the Colts. I don't know. Nico, I mean, he's the best receiver in the league. They're winning games by two and three points. I think it's, I think we're, it's a bit too optimistic to say we could just pencil in two and two against the stretch. Just team is not dependent of Nico Collins. They are dependent on one. I've been so far. No way. Nico Collins didn't have this year with CJ. CJ shrouds are most important players. Well, you sure are sure. There's no way you can say that Nico Collins is the reason the Texans are four in one. You can't say that. They would kind of be four in one without Nico Collins. I didn't say they're four in one with because of Nico Collins. You're going to go to the tape. We might have to go to the tape on this one. Okay. Well, maybe it was the miss pick. I'm not saying, no, CJ shrouds your most important players. Quarterback of course, be crazy to say anything else, but I don't think they're four in one without Nico Collins. Alex says one in three. Be Mac. You just made the list grinding coffee and whiskey one in three. Come on, man. He also says hopefully it's only four weeks and not anymore. I also hope they're not full of bad word like the Astros and getting it wrong. Yeah, I have from all of that. Yeah. I don't know if the Texans have done that though. Like the Texans haven't lied. The Texans are just flat out, not tell you. Right. They won't tell you. And then you see, like I said, the Christian Harris situation worries me because there was two different episodes where you thought he'd already be back. Yeah. I mean, Christian Harris might not have his left leg from his knee down. And Demico, what's the status on Harris? Well, we'll let you know where he's at at the end of the week. Well, yeah, you're letting us know he's got one leg, Demico. We don't know. Like they're just flat out not going to tell you. Do we know do we know Nico Collins has to? We did see him walking on the sideline after the hamstring injury. Yeah, he was. He kind of celebrated the touchdown, even though he was laboring. But then he did. He put his arm around tank. He kind of put his arm around the offensive lineman. He was like at ease soldier. We can celebrate, but let's celebrate cautiously because I'm not feeling good. And then you see tank like immediately bring on the training stuff. All right, seven, one, three, seven, eight zero ESPN. What is your fear of the Nico Collins injury? How worried are you? And what does this offense look like now that Nico Collins will not be around for at least four weeks? It is the B seven, one, three, seven, eight zero ESPN HRP listener line. We're on Twitch, switch TV slash ESPN 97 five YouTube and ESPN Houston blankers at Pac-Man Joel on Twitter. Brian's at fear mongering BMAC on Twitter. I'm a Jeremy Branham. It is the B's on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five before we go to the break. We're at for my bookie.ag look. Yeah, four baseball games today. You've got NBA on the horizon college football this weekend as well as pro football. We're talking about all of it. You feel a certain kind of way about some of it. You want to put some money down? Go to my bookie.ag right now. My bookie.ag is the site I always recommend you go to because they're always taking care of their customers. They're doing it again with a double your deposit bonus up to a thousand dollars. 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I like to get, I like to be sassy with the, uh, the Twichers, but they did make the playoffs. And then you have Lamont on the other side saying, uh, 2011 Texas, he's going back 13 years. Texans lost Mario Williams week five because his breast got damaged. [LAUGH] That same year they lost Andre Johnson. Texans will be all right. I think they will be all right, Lamont. I just, I wouldn't cite 2011 as to the reason they'll be all right. I'm going to cite that the Texans still have plenty of firepower in their wide receiver room, uh, with Steph, with Tank. I like Hutch. Woods is fine. I'm not so sure about Metchi. Schultz is a factor in the past catching game, although he is in my dog house. Could be a good time. Dalton Schultz to get out of my dog house. And you know, they're going to help with the running backs this week. The running backs are getting helped this week. No, not Joe Mixon. Damian Pierce. Damian Pierce can be back this week, although D'Amico did say we'll see where we arrive on Sunday, uh, when it comes to Joe Mixon. I, I would think that you don't need Mixon for the Patriots, but I would think that he could play and I would expect him back for the green bay game because. We're kind of guessing though, aren't we? We are. I'm totally guessing. It's based on the fact that, you know, we've seen him out there a little bit. We've seen him running around a little bit, but it's taken an awful long time for an ankle, but I don't, I'm not going because it's the Patriots. I'm not trying to bring anybody buddy back this week too quickly and kind of to your point about, uh, on Niko. If Joe Mixon's close, I'll give him the Patriots game and then bring him back for green back. The, um, in hindsight, the, the Texan probably should have I hard, uh, Joe Mixon, because of you, I arm after that second week. Okay, well, he's out week three. He's out week four. He's out week five. He's out this week against the Patriots. There are your four weeks and then you can bring him back. So I do think that the Texans kind of missed their opportunity at that. Now it's not as punitive in the NFL as it is in majorly baseball because you do have to trim down your rosters on game day. You're going to have guys that are inactive anyways. So it's not as punitive in the NFL as it is in baseball where you're carrying dead weight. A football, you get to trim it down anyways on game day. So it's really not that big a deal. And then you also have the restrictions on how many players you can bring back from the IR. So I do think the Texans, if they could have it back, they would have placed Mixon on the IR. I just don't think it's like this huge, terrible mistake, like having Kyle Tucker off of the aisle for like five days before he misses three months. That's a, it's much more severe in baseball than it is in football. And we were talking about this before the season started. What's the rule on how many, how many guys you can bring back off of that's just the, the IR is the season ending one where you can only bring back a certain amount of guys. Yeah, we had a texture mentioned that. How many guys can you bring back? He thought they had already brought back too. By my count, they haven't brought anybody back. You're allowed eight players to return from injured reserve throughout the season. If you're lucky enough to get to the playoffs, you can bring up to 10. They give you two, they give you two more in the postseason. I don't believe the Texans have had anybody on the IR that they've brought back. I mean, this is only week six. They haven't had anybody on the IR that they've been able to bring back. Now they did have those two guys on the IR to start the year with that new rule where you can keep 53 and then you can keep two additional players on the IR, but they do count as a return, you know, designation to return once they come back, but they haven't come back. It was Christian Harris and Kurt Heinrich. So I don't think the Texans unless I'm missing somebody, I don't think that I am. I don't believe the Texans have brought back a single player off of the IR and you're allowed eight. And if you get to know the number, yeah, I didn't know that. So that that that that weighs into this too because you would assume for sure. I mean, I don't know about Heinrich, but you obviously you're going to have Christian Harris back and that's a necessity and now Nico. So yeah, I'm at this point, when I look at it, I feel like they're going to be okay. And I think that this team is fully capable of covering for him and mixing would have been, you know, you're right, that would have been a smart move. But at the same time, I feel like they're still going to continue to get healthier and healthier. That's why I'm not going to press the panic button, even in the worst case scenario that you don't have Nico for more than four weeks. I still think you have enough that can cover your rear end until you get him back. Yeah. All right. Seven one three seven eight zero ESPN textures asking is Joe Nixon still alive? We'll see where we're at at the end of the week texture is Joe Nixon still with us. We'll let you know at the end of the week. We'll see how it all plays out by Sunday. Seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six out to the HR and P listener line Lamont. You're in the hive with the bees. What's up Lamont? Say man, let me just say this man. Uh, I it at the way that a Nico was going. I was like, the kitchen was underpaid him. But now I'm looking at and I think that you guys had this up conversation like last week about Nick Fario and his value of how you value guys and stuff. I'm like, is he a actuarial or something? I mean, because this is perfect right here. Uh, Nico is white when you need to be because even though he has been balling out to build, to build his into up and he's not on the field a lot, man. And I just think that his value is his value is right where it needs to be. But let me say this to Brian and the people that they think that this is the big deal. The only reason I'm so cocky right now and being my chef because right now outside of the Vikings, there's no dominant team, man. There's no dominant team and there's no dominant team in the NFL right now. I think that every single week is a big deal. I think that every single week anybody can get beat. I don't I'm so theory. I don't fear anything right now. Outside of the Vikings, you know, they took our ass at a little shit, man. But but, uh, okay, we did, okay, we did, uh, uh, you know, when we're hot up, uh, we're happy with the theme Hopkins doesn't seem it caused the pervert from congruence historic the press and the ball, uh, all over the place. It could be some good that's going to come out of this. And that's one thing I have to say in the mouth. Appreciate them up. We don't want to lose Nico and find out who the next pervert is. Yeah, I'm not sure what the I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what the next step from from Hopkins to pervert. He was just trying to mix in a little pervert before it calls over. Maybe that helped us get rid of the pervert. Yeah. It wasn't. I mean, things were not great whenever they traded Hopkins. I mean, they went four and twelve, four and thirteen, three and thirteen immediately after that. Yeah. I had to rock bottom. Now, I'm not saying like the Hopkins trade was the reason why. I think it was more culture part of the below Brian was the GM now and making some boneheaded decisions because that same off season Stefan Diggs got traded for Minnesota to a for too Buffalo first first round pick and what did Minnesota do with that first pound first round pick? They still like to Justin Jefferson. So like I don't I don't necessarily disagree with the logic of trading DeAndre Hopkins. I disagree far more with the return that you got for DeAndre Hopkins. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN, YouTube, ESPN, Houston, Jesse says our defense will carry us. I'm not worried, says we still got tank Dalton and digs. Now it's time for them to step up. What do you think this offense looks like now with Nico Collins out for a minimum of four weeks? I just think that I don't think a lot's going to change. I think like you said, I have not wavered one bit in the fact I still believe in Tank Dell. I just think that there were so many miles to feeds early feed early in the season and and and and the way they were and the teams that they play against also matters that I think that you know, it took a little bit more more time to get tank fully involved in the offense, but I believe that Tank Dell is capable of stepping up. We've seen enough of Stefan Diggs that he's looked great. We just haven't seen him run the deep routes. Nico runs the deep routes for the most part, Tank can run the deep routes. I'm really looking at Xavier Hutchinson. I think Xavier Hutchinson, I believe in Robert Woods. I know he's a little bit longer in the tooth. I think Robert Woods can do a lot of what you need him to do, but I really expect that I know that he's a guy based on what he's been through and where he was drafted and everybody's pulling for him, but I believe that Hutchinson's the guy that is going to step up and he is going to fill fill the role of not wide receiver one Nico, but fill the role of one of the main three receivers. Yeah, to me, it's going to be way more Hutchinson than Metche. I see a lot of people saying, well, it's Metche's time. I don't think so. Nico Collins. I don't either. As an outside receiver, Hutchinson's going to play a lot of outside receiver. Tank Del played more outside receiver than inside receiver last year in his rookie season. So for me, Hutchinson's way ahead of Metche. Metche's an interior receiver depth and he's still behind Robert Woods. Like he's slot receiver number three for the Texans. Will he be active on game day? Yeah, probably he might play a few snaps here and there, but Hutchinson's going to play far more snaps than John Metche. I mean, look at the Buffalo game as an indicator to that. My biggest wonder, because I feel like Hutchinson played a lot of snaps against Buffalo because it was, okay, you're our backup ex. This is our game plan. This is what we're going to do. And then whenever Nico got hurt, it was just, okay, you go step in Xavier instead of, okay, we're going to figure out a way to use Tank Del and step on digs in 12 personnel on the field at the same time. I'm really curious to see how it looks this week, especially in 12 personnel. Like in 12 personnel, is it going to be digs in Tank Del on the field 90% of the time, or is it going to be where digs is on the field three quarters of the time, Tank Del is on the field 50% of the time and Xavier Hutchinson just flat out taking Nico Collins his role. That's something that will be what I'm watching early in the game. My guess would be that digs in Tank Del will be the two receivers and two receiver sets. I think Hutchinson will have a major factor in some two receiver sets, but mostly three receiver sets. And then you'll move Tank Del inside. So that's something that I'll be eager to watch how it looks differently. They brought in Quentin Tarantino again. I think they're going to use him a little bit as a blocking tight and he might be better than Cage's over right now. It'll be interesting to see how he's used, but I do expect to see some more two tight insets too, because I do think they can run the football better out of two tight insets. Yeah, I think you're I lean to the fact that early on as they try and sort through all of this, I think you're going to see a lot of Tank and a lot of digs, but I think that it's going to be then after that, the two guys that I think if they show that they're stepping up, that when they're on the field, if they're making catches and they're making some things happen, I think that Woods is a guy that a lot of people have written off, but I think Woods is fully capable, not on the outside, but Woods is fully capable of he's going to get more reps and I think he can do some things with him. But I think from the standpoint of Hutchinson, I think Hutchinson as long as he proves he can hang on to the football, he's going to be in those three three receiver sets. He's going to get, he's going to be a factor. I believe that this is his time to shine and I think he's going to take full advantage of it. You know, they've groomed him for quite a while. And I think what we saw last week was extremely encouraging that there's a guy that you can lean on and put in there to get some more snaps and he's going to do something with him. 713780ESP and HRMP listener line 7137803776, what do you think the offense is going to look like with no Nico Collins? How worried are you? And at this point, now that Nico's out for four weeks, I would just go ahead and Dusty Baker, Joe Nixon to it is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. Guys, so we go to the breaker word from a good friend, Doc Linville, Doc Linville right here in the Med Center doing a lot of great things on a daily basis. He does Botox and spot treatments and plastic surgeries. But what he does that I'm very familiar with is things to get your hair back. And if you're losing your hair and you don't have the hair you once had when you were in your heyday and you thought it's gone and it's never coming back and you don't want to screw around with all the gimmicky things. 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It quickly makes the hair stronger, longer, and because you're taking it from a spot that you're never going to lose it, it's going to be there for the rest of your life. Game changing stuff. I couldn't be happier with Doc and his staff. You could be the next in line. Check it out today. Sign up for that consultation. Go to 975hair.com and tell them I sent you by. [MUSIC PLAYING] You listening to The Killer Bees, with Joel Blanket, Jeremy Branham, on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Broadcasting live from the Veritex community bank studios. Lamont says if one player not a quarterback can derail your whole team, the team is trashed or not good. I tend to agree with that. I tend to agree with that. Lamont also says that his wild by the time Dico is eligible to return, they'll likely have two games before the buy. I'm wondering if they've taken them to the buy. Now, that part is not true. They have four games after he's eligible to return before the buy, because you got Patriots, Packers, Colts, Jets. Those are the four games he misses. He could return for the week 10 game against Detroit, which that means he could play week 11 at Dallas. He could play week 12 at Tennessee. He could play week 13 at Jacksonville and then the buy. So there's four games between his earliest return and the buy, which comes in week 14, which is incredibly late buy, which I'm not a fan of. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that as well. But I am thinking that there's no way that I want him to be out eight games and I want to be that conservative. If he's close, yeah, I can see waiting an extra week or so. But yeah, I'm not going that long. No, me either. And I'm a big fan of Dusty Baker. As you all know, I've always loved Dusty Baker. Never said a bad thing about him or his trust management. I do have the t-shirt in Dusty. I trusty and Dusty Baker's faint was famous. He's famous for a lot of things famous for being cool. It's famous for being what should be a Hall of Fame manager. He's famous for inventing the high five. He's famous for shaking my head, courtside at the Pertita Center. But he's also very famous for as soon as a guy's ready, he gives him an extra day or two. I think that you might as well just go ahead and do that with Joe mixing too. And I had this in the rundown yesterday. Didn't get to it before the Nico Collins news came out. Now it really doesn't make sense with Nico Collins. He's out for four weeks. But it's especially true now with Joe mixing. It's like if you're going to be without Nico, you're going to try to find ways to be good offensively. You've already had Joe mixing out since week two whenever he sustained the injury. You might as well just get Joe mixing 100% right too. If it means an extra game, if it means an extra two games, oh well, again, you're not winning the Super Bowl in week six or week seven. Get those guys 100% right, hit the reset button and then be ready to go. All systems go whenever they do come back. - Yeah, the big thing for me is that what you saw in the running game last week, though it wasn't spectacular, it was serviceable, it was good enough and you're playing the Patriots and I'm not at all saying that I'm a believer in looking past an opponent or saying that they're a lesser than, but they're a lesser than, they're not that great. And so if it means that I'm going to use the two running backs that I used last week and if Pierce comes back and can be a factor at all, then I've got three and that I just need to do that for one more week, I'm fine with that because I think you will probably need Joe mixing when you play Green Bay and you're going to play a team at a different level. And I think that's where, you know, you could really use a 100% healthy Joe mixing as opposed to wherever he is right now and or, you know, throwing him back out there in a game that you should win without Nico Collins and Joe Mix. - I think the biggest thing with us though, whenever we talk about like football and injuries, I don't really care about losing a game middle of the year as much as you do. Like, and I know that those guys not playing doesn't necessarily equate that you're going to lose the game. Maybe it's just better of saying that you diminish your chances of winning the game. - I'm okay diminishing my chances of winning the game, a game in the middle of the year by 10, 15%. If it means I have a much better chance getting to the end of the year with those guys. Like, I'm willing to lose the battle for the war. - Like a baseball mindset to let a football mindset. - Well, whenever you're a good football team, I think you should have the same mindset because if you have Super Bowl aspirations, what is more important, the win loss result in week seven or that your guys are 100% when you enter the playoffs? - Sure, but, Avacy, because of how short the season is comparatively the baseball. Like, it's much easier to go, okay, take a series off in baseball than it is and take a game off in football. - Also, a much more violent sport where injury re-aggravation is much higher. - Yeah, it's just, look, it'd be nice if they, if you know for sure they have that luxury, I'm with you, but we don't know, I mean, again, obviously, you guys are more optimistic about these next four games than I am, but with what they have to deal with over the second half of the schedule, hopefully when Nico comes back, you're facing lions, the Cowboys back to back, you have the Dolphins, Ravens, Dolphins with two, presumably, Dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs got towards the end of the season. - You keep saying Dolphins like they're good? - Well, with two, I think they're at least competitive in can push you. - 50/50 chance two is there. - Yeah, no, no, I have two as out as a cake walk, but. - I think the luxury we're dealing with is because of the fact that where you sit in the division right now currently, too, to where that's why I'm not, I'm not having any urgency on either guy and I don't have the concern is because your division did you hell of a favor to start the season and basically rolled over and play dead to where you're sitting in a pretty good spot so that you can prepare more for the end of the season because the chances are far greater that you're gonna make the playoffs in some capacity and probably win the division. - Yeah, 536-6 with Nico out, there goes Brian's over 1,500 yards bet. There's a lot of selfish reasons that people are upset that Nico's gone, whether it's having, you know, a prop bet on Nico Collins, whether it's you have Nico Collins in 32% of your best balls, not that anybody's counting. You know, being an all pro too, like Nico Collins was probably was on pace to being an all pro. Like this totally derails that, these chances have gone. - I think you had a chance to have gone since the player of the year. - So a lot of the reasons, most of the reasons that it stinks that Nico Collins is gonna miss the minimum four games is more because of selfish reasons than it is team reasons. 'Cause again, I think that seems, I think the team's gonna be fine. I think the Texans will be fine. But the prop bets, your ownership of him in fantasy football, Hib's own, you know, desire to be an all pro. I think that takes a much more tremendous hit than the Houston Texans will. But yeah, Brian, good luck on that prop bet. Sorry about that. Hope you had injury protection. 0203, I'm with Brian. I think you guys are underestimating the significance of the loss of Nico, who does CJ look for on third and long, slow, I guess you, which the Texans seem to find themselves in and off, find themselves in often. Tengdell, he's the separator. Texans aren't four and one without him. Wouldn't be shocked if they go one in three in his absence. The games have been decided by two salim margin to be missing a major piece of the offense. So kind of what Brian said. Yeah, I mean, I hear what Brian is saying. And I understand that there's a level of concern. I just believe that they have too many guys. Yeah, there's some guys that are gonna have to learn, you know, off script, you know, kind of make sure that they are, they can get themselves in the kind of positions that Nico has gotten himself in with the chemistry he has with CD with CJ. But it's not out of the realm of possibilities. It's a probability. I believe the digs as an experienced A1 receiver in this league, he's gonna be just fine. He can do it too. But he doesn't do what Nico does. I think that's one of my biggest concerns. You're right. I think digs, digs role. I don't think it's gonna change much. I think he's still gonna be the short and intermediate guy where his tank, tank is more likely to take the deep shots. But tank because of the size of physicality difference between him and Nico can't do a hundred percent of what Nico does. I mean, Nico's gonna win balls in traffic where tank's gonna win because of separation. Possibly. Yeah, we'll see. Like, I think digs role pretty much stays the same. Shultz role pretty much stays the same. Although their targets will go up. Tank is the guy that I think is gonna have to step up getting back to what we talked about in the previous segment. Tank is the guy that I think that's gonna take more than Nico down the field. I don't think digs the down the field guy right now. You just wonder about tank being able to win some of those same situations given the size of physicality. That's what I'm saying. That's where CJ is a smart quarterback is also gonna choose his spots a little differently and change and alter his plan a little bit because of it. If Nico's going up in double coverage and Nico's got a half a step, he's gonna throw that football probably 10 times out of 10 knowing that Nico can high point it. He can physical his way into getting it. Tank's gonna be more about is he does, how much distance does he have between the safety or the corner and if he's got a step then he's got no problem throwing it but I don't think he's gonna throw it in the same situations he throw a ball to Nico. And to be clear, just to know what he like twists my words, Nico's a great separator too. Like he's not only a guy who's winning balls in traffic. He's an elite separator as well. - A few more text on this 3977 with our defense. The Texans should go three and one next four game because our defense is Texan Swarm. This is something we haven't brought up in the first 47 minutes of the show. The Texans defense is their strength. Like the Texans defense is their strength. So I think that that should factor in too on how well the Texans do in the absence of one Nico common. - And I think that you're gonna get Autry back in another week and that's gonna be a huge factor for you because now you've got yet another weapon you're adding to the defense to make them even stronger. So I think that's a huge key. You hope to get Christian Harris back here in the next couple of weeks. That should also enhance and make your defense even better. So as good, what don't you know? - I don't feel optimistic about Harris. - I'm worried about it, but I mean, with as long as it's taken already, I gotta believe if he's going to be, unless this is something we have not been told at all, I believe by the Green Bay game, if not the Green Bay game right after that, we should have Christian Harris back too, but you're getting guys back on your defense. - How much do you think he needs to practice before he plays? 'Cause like, he hasn't practiced. Like, Autry's a suspension where he's not coming off of an injury, so he could probably just pop up and be ready to play. Maybe not like full, like unleash him completely. They can give you 20 snaps, go rush the quarterback. Harris to me, he hasn't played football at all, at all this season. He went out to one training camp practice and got set back down. Like he's gonna need at least two weeks of practice before he's able to play. So he hasn't stepped on the field yet. Even if he stepped on the field next week, I still think that that's three weeks out. - And maybe so, but nonetheless, I think from the standpoint of the defense getting better, you're gonna get two guys back, depending on just as a matter of when they come back, but I think that you're going to get even better. And I don't have a problem saying that their calling card has been their defense because looking at what they did in the off season as much as they added mixin and digs, I feel like what they did on defense was what DeMico wanted to do. And they've already taken that step up. The offense hasn't taken the step up that a lot of us were expecting to see by now, but the defense has already done that and established themselves as being a dominant force in this league. - Yeah, the defense is something that gives me optimism too. 0-8-9-1 without Nico will be fine. Our run game has been more of a concern. Ever since mixing got injured, I'd be more worried about the running game than Collins. That's an interesting question. Just saw Jeff Saturday's take on first take, the off-think CJ and Nico are the best wide receiver quarterback duo in the NFL. Not anymore, Nico with one hamstring's gonna be tough. 0-9-7-9, digs went into the slot, but he can stretch the field too. Now they'll have to, they'll have a practice without Nico digs going to earn a new contract. I just don't think digs has that elite speed that he used to. - It's not an elite preparation, I don't think he's it. Like maybe you have a few plays here or there where you're trying to sneak 'em down field, up the seam or something like that. But to me, I agree with Brian, he takes more of a deep threat than digs is. And Nico is the best one that you have. 3-2-2-7 Texans are 4-1, but haven't looked great. Look, it's the NFL. I think it's too early to say rest for the playoffs. No one said rest for the playoffs. I said give a guy an extra week when he needs an extra week. Maybe you can also see where you're at win loss record, but you're 4-1 right now. You don't need to rush guys back. A rest until Nico is ready, but no way you can be too conservative and act like we are the Chiefs. You need to evaluate where you are each week. Right now at 4-1, I'm not rushing guys back. You lose back-to-back games in your 4-3, then it's a different conversation. Yeah, and with the Patriots on the schedule, there's no reason to rush back, like specifically mixin'. There's no reason to rush mixin' back this week when the, it's the Patriots on the schedule. 5-9-1-2, Shroud as the quarterback, we're fine with whoever he has at wide receiver. Let's see if that is true, 'cause I do think you're onto something with that. All right, overreactions in the NFL. What are your biggest overreactions that you have after five weeks of the NFL season? 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. Killer Rees, ESPN 97-5, ESPN 92-5. ESPN 97-5. You're locked in with a Killer B's on ESPN 97-5 and 92-5, live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. What are your hot takes, your overreactions from the NFL, week five, 7-1-3-7-8-0-E-S-P-N, HR MP listener line 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. King of Twitch is roasting, Joe right now. Joe, as the listeners are unaware, is in the production room right now. If you're on Twitch or on YouTube, you can see Joe, King of Twitch, so exhausted, looking at Joe. Joe's worked hard today, he's already done his three hours, he's still here, he's grinding. - He's doing the other job. - He might be grinding on coffee and whiskey. - He might be doing both. - Oh, what are your overreactions? Do you have any big overreaction from this past week in the NFL? - I mean, one of them is just the fact that everybody just seems to believe that the Chiefs are in so much trouble because of their wide receiver issues. I just think-- - You did that yesterday. - What? - That was you yesterday. - What did you-- - You were saying that the Chiefs are in tons of trouble because of the wide receiver room. - Right, okay. - But what I'm saying is that I said yesterday, I thought that they'd be on trying to trade for a Mari Cooper. But I think they're gonna, the big picture is, is they're gonna be just fine. Everybody wondering if it's gonna have this massive effect on the Chiefs, whether they make a trade that's a big trade or a small trade. I just believe that Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are gonna figure it out to where I don't think they're falling off that pedestal regardless of their record. - With all due respect, you said the opposite yesterday. - Great. - You're on the other side of that argument yesterday. The ones that stick out, like I didn't really have any off the top of my head, but some of the ones that are being set out there by the NFL and ESPN has their overreactions after week five. The Bengals are gonna miss the playoffs. See, this one to me is not an overreaction. I think the Bills have dug themselves-- - Two big of a hole for them to come out. And this is something, Pause. This is something that they've done in the past. Like they've been able to dig themselves out of holes. They're one in four right now and their defense is atrocious. And they just lost another key piece to their defense. I think that the Bengals have dug themselves too big of a hole that I don't think this is an overreaction. I agree that the Bengals will not make the playoffs. - It's a reality and it's also the fact that the reality is with that organization, they're not gonna go out and do what a lot of other teams that have a good, a really good offense that have potential to be a competitive team and go out and try and find replacements in trades before the trade deadline. The Bengals are cheap and I don't think they're gonna try and do anything to fix their defense. And unlike when they were both the Ravens and the Bengals were struggling early out of the gates, the Ravens are doing what they needed to do and digging their way out. On the flip side, the Bengals have it. Now it's too big of a hole to get out of as you mentioned and I think that they're done. - What about you, Brian? Any big overreaction after week five in the NFL? - I can't believe I'm gonna say this 'cause I didn't think they were gonna do anything coming into the season, but I think that Denver Broncos are gonna squeak into the playoffs. There are three and two right now. They would be in, this is the classic October conversation and the playoffs right now if the playoffs started today. But the Denver Broncos of three and two would be in and they've got arguably the best defense of the league right now. Patrick's retained his lock and people down. They're giving up basically nothing to everybody they face. Have a lot of question marks about, you know, they're offensive skill weapons, though Javante Williams had a breakout game. Maybe he's finally back from that massive ACL surgery he had a few years ago. But Bo Nix has been able to mostly just, you know, run Sean Payton's offense, not make the big mistakes. He's not been able to move the ball great because his wide receivers were limited. But I think with that defense and if Javante Williams is truly back, I think they squeak into the playoffs at 9 and 8. - They have a big one against the Chargers this week 'cause I think the Broncos and the Chargers are both kind of like in that mix, that last spot mix. I will say that the bottom of the AFC is more open than we thought it was gonna be. - Yeah, with the Jets taking a step back that's off just taking a step back. - In Cincinnati too. I mean, we just talked about Cincinnati. There are three teams that we talked about as being at the bottom of the AFC or at least being in the playoffs of the AFC that we don't think are gonna be there. So it is gonna open up some spots for some teams that we didn't think would be there. - Even Miami that was like borderline playoffs, depending on how you thought about them with two at the start of the year, having too amiss as many games as he's probably gonna continue to miss, that probably takes them out of the equation as well and leaves the door open. I just can't see Denver making the playoffs. - I mean, you look at eight through 10 'cause right now the Broncos are the 16. It's the Jets, the Raiders and the Dolphins. Like what among those teams do you feel great is gonna bounce back? If the Broncos defense could continue to play as well as they have so far, I think they can get in at 9 and 8. - I think one of the Jets or Dolphins makes the playoffs. - I think the Jets are gonna, as much as they, it's just a complete bleep show. I think of those teams, there's too much talent on the Jets and they're a defensive driven team as well. But if they get any kind of a notion to figure some things out on offense, I think they'll squeak in. - I think it's gonna be Miami. I think too is gonna come back. He's gonna stay away from the concussions. Their offense will start to figure it out and I think they get into the playoffs at 9 and 8. The Jets, to me, are such a train wreck. I just don't see it happening. But if they do get in, would you say that the firing of Robert Solow was a good firing? - I still don't like it and I still don't think it was good, but if that's the fire that they needed to be lit under their rear ends, then it worked for them. I just, I still don't think it was a good firing this early in the season. - If they make the playoffs for me, it's a good firing. Like you're reeling, you're not living up to expectations. Things aren't good, things look like it's a disaster. If you can write the ship afterwards and make the playoffs to me, it was a win. - I think the crazy thing though, is if they win Monday night and they got a chance to win the division, then at the time that they did it to your point, that if the right firing to do, because the fact that nothing's out of the realm of possibilities in terms of the division is still in their reach if they be Buffalo Monday night. - Yeah, it'd be funny if that happens. I think Buffalo's gonna kill them though. A four zero seven eight do you agree that the Bears have an elite offense, but don't take advantage of it? Not yet, because of Caleb Williams being a rookie quarterback. I don't like Waldron though. I'm not a big shame. - No, I didn't like him Seattle last year too. I mean, I know you love Jackson Smith and Jig, but he threw so many passes behind the line of scrimmage. I thought his offense looked outdated now to his credit, the offense looked great this last week and they've been running up tempo. They've been a little bit more modern than what we saw in Seattle, but overall I haven't liked Shane Waldron. - No, I think that's the biggest issue right now and the fact that Caleb's still figuring things out. He's only gonna get better. Yes, they surrounded him with all these weapons. We talked about going into the season, but I don't think that it was suddenly gonna hit the ground running and be a team that was gonna be one of the better offenses in football. They still have the potential. They have all the pieces. - 0167 to Sean Watson will go down as the worst contract of all time. Yeah, probably. - Yeah, that's not overreaction at all. I think that's superb. - Probably so. - Yeah, contract and trade, right? - Yeah, no, I would think that's fair to say. - I think that's both. - Yeah, the trade was pretty stinkin' bad. All right, the Rockets say they play a basketball game today. We know that they're full of young talent. They're as deep as anybody team. How do they get a star though? Do they, they don't have one, right? It is the B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. (upbeat music) - ESPN, ESPN 97.5.